I'd like to make a client area in WordPress from my freelance design business. I'm capable of making it myself but I was wondering if there are any good tutorials and plugins that other people are already using. A Basecamp style project management system would be the ideal.
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3what exactly do you have in mind?? whats the use case?– BainternetApr 17, 2011 at 8:49
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3Yes, what @Bainternet said. I'm very intrigued by what you are requesting. Please update your question with as many details as you can about what you are trying to accomplish. If you have wireframes to include, even better.– MikeSchinkelApr 17, 2011 at 9:00
7 Answers
First, for invoicing/billing use the WP Invoice plugin: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-invoice/
The "members" plugin may also be useful: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/members/
For a custom redirect, to send them to custom pages rather than just the admin panel use: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/peters-login-redirect/
If you had them register, greet them with a custom welcome message on the page they log-in to using this code, which should grab their name from their profile:
Welcome <?php echo $user_identity; ?>
You can use custom page templates with is_user_logged_in
, and custom logon forms, etc
But to build Basecamp it took years, if you could build that for your personal site, you'd b better off ditching your business and marketing the basecamp clone
Depending on what you want, the buddypress plugin may be of help
I looked into this a while back, the only half decent one I found was http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/ndizi-project-management/. In the end I just went with something not related to WordPress. Doing it in WordPress would be pretty much the same as building a custom PHP app and there were better solutions out there.
http://blairwilliams.com/mingle-wordpress-plugin/ It's a plugin that turns wordpress into a social network. It has a front end user managing system: Activity, Profile, Settings, Friends, Friend Requests, Inbox, Directory, Logout. Maybe you can turn this into a simple client area.
Hope this helps.
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Lone link is considered a poor answer since it is meaningless by itself and target resource is not guaranteed to be alive in the future. Please try to include at least summary of information you are linking to.– RarstNov 20, 2011 at 18:11
Have a look at these plugins:
- http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/projectmanager/
- http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-crm/
- http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/collabpress/
- http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-invoice/
And maybe you can give a try to a RoloPress theme too.
Edit: I forgot about Genesis CRM for WordPress.
There is a free client area management plugin that you can use to create the client area and just customize it or add more on the features. See the plugin - https://wordpress.org/plugins/customer-area/
If you're building WordPress websites for your clients you could use have a Video Tutorials section.
If you don't mind paying, the WPMU Dev guys have one here, which has about 40 video tutorials showing people how to they can add/edit a post, stuff like that, embedded right within the admin area (or can also be embedded elsewhere on a post or page if you prefer) that way you could save your clients asking you a thousand obvious WP questions!
They host the videos too so you don't have to worry about that.
http://premium.wpmudev.org/project/unbranded-video-tutorials
I'll try and think of some more too
Cheers
Nick
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3I would advise against WPMU Dev, they're embroiled in a scandal involving their videos and copyright. They're accused of stealing the script from Video User Manuals: wpcandy.com/reports/…– Tom J Nowell ♦Nov 18, 2011 at 16:22
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1How does this address original question? As I understand it is about building out client area in general. Even if those videos are added to admin area (via plugin I assume) they just a single feature. PS people, let's not make this about WPMU Dev, "I downvoted because of poor reputation of company" would be enough. Those who want to look into it can do so on more suited resources.– RarstNov 19, 2011 at 12:09